


Tight Spaces Create Close Bonds

by Vennat



Category: Psych
Genre: Claustrophobia, Friendship, Happy at the end, Other, gus and shawn are besties, i almost typed shit in the last tag, no romance because theyre pure, psych is off netflix so i needed to write something for my babies, sad fic, set after Shawn Takes A Shot In The Dark, that would be an odd episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-08-19 06:24:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8193593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vennat/pseuds/Vennat
Summary: In the aftermath of Shawn Takes a Shot In The Dark, Shawn develops claustrophobia. Understandably so, seeing as he was shot and locked in the trunk of a car. But being Shawn, he refuses to tell anyone, deciding he can handle this on his own, and its up to Carlton, Juliet, and Gus to find out what's wrong with Shawn, and help him.





	1. Chapter 1

Shawn was sat on the steps of the police station, his bike in a nearby parking spot, when Lassiter and Juliet came down the steps, and caught sight of him slumped against the railing.

The former scowled at the sight, while the latter smiled softly at him, respectively. Lassiter struck out with his foot as he passed- not hard, mind you- but enough to graze the pseudo-psychic detective.

“You know I can arrest you for loitering, right?” Lassiter grumbled, not exactly meaning it, but saying it to keep up the appearances of indifference towards the younger man. While never really willing to admit it aloud, the head detective was worried about the younger man. Spencer never sulked around outside the police station. He always went inside, bothering everyone at the SBPD, dropping Funyon crumbs everywhere, and more specifically _annoying Carlton._

But Spencer also had his good days, days where he would send Chief Vick a bundle of anonymous flowers, knowing she was having a rough day after hitting too many dead-ends in cases. (Anonymous is used loosely, as everyone in the station somehow knew it was Shawn, except Shawn.) Days where he would leave steaming cups of coffee, with everyone's specific orders, and a fresh box of donuts on the communal snack table. Of course, Shawn never spoke up about it, and he was never caught doing it, but Lassiter was not head detective for nothing. Any time it was mentioned, the tips of his ears would redden and hed make some excuse to either change the subject or leave. Lassiter often pondered why a man so self-centered and obnoxious would ever pass up a chance to gain attention and favor with others.

But, now was not the time to ponder such mysteries, now was the time to figure out why the hell Spencer was outside seated on the steps, rather than inside, shaking, screaming, having ‘psychic-visions,’ and causing a general racket. Thinking quickly, Lassiter racked his brain. The Chief was not angry at him, and had not kicked him out. Shawn and Gus were still an annoyingly disastrous duo, as far as he knew. O’Hara could never stay angry at the man for long, so nothing there either. Shawn would have called if something had happened to his ridiculously named firm, and he and his father were never on especially good terms. Unable to think of anything to explain why he was here himself, Lassiter spoke up to ask the consultant.

“Why are you here, Spencer?” Carlton payed no mind to the fact that he had just interrupted the psychic, knowing that it was probably just a crude joke, or casual flirt directed towards his partner. Spencer’s mouth snapped shut at the question, and he instead chose to lift himself from the concrete steps, turning away for a moment to ineffectively hide the grimace of pain on his features, probably due to the recent gunshot wound to his shoulder. A side-effect of a trigger happy kidnapper.

“So, you guys got any cases for me? The cable has gone out over at Psych and we could really use a paycheck sometime soon.” He smiled unabashedly at his obvious wrongdoing, not-so-discreetly trying to distract Lassiter from the matter at hand by providing an easy jab towards his unstable financial status. Carlton saw through the misdirection, but instead of going after it, he just nodded towards his partner, who held out a manilla folder with the files inside of it, detailing the case.

“Actually, yes. A robbery, we assume an internal job based on the facts. Thousands of dollars are missing from a wealthy business man’s personal safes, which only a few have access to. We’re on our way now to go check it out, if you’d like to come along?”

Shawn cast a wary look towards Lassiter’s car. He visibly gulped.

“Like… in the back? With the bars?” Juliet shot her partner a look of confusion before turning back to Shawn.

“Erm… Yes? Where else?” Shifting uneasily, the psychic looked at his left wrist with seemingly unseeing eyes.

“I just remembered! Look at the time! Said I’d meet Gus for breakfast. Guess I’ll have to pass on the case! See you later guys,” With that, Shawn practically ran to his motorcycle, pulling on the helmet and leaving it unfastened, then starting the motorcycle and speeding away.

“Something, is not right here.” Lassiter declared, slipping his phone from his pocket. He quickly dialed a number he rarely used. Guster’s. As Gus answered it in his customary polite tone, Lassiter immediately cut him off.

“Where are you right now?” He barked out. The best way to deal with the bullshit of the two best friends is to completely ignore it, and go straight for what you came for.

“I’m at work? Why? Has something happened?”

“No Guster, nothing has happened. Everything is fine. Do you have any plans with Shawn today?” There was some rustling in the background, as if the man was shuffling through his schedule.

“No… We have a breakfast set for tomorrow,” Lassiter _hmphed_ at this, “Why? Did you and Detective O’Hara want to join us?” Lassiter scoffed.

“As if. I cannot speak for O’Hara though. Ask her yourself if you want to know.” With that, Lassiter snapped his phone shut, and turned to his partner. The look in her eyes asked a silent question, and he shook his head at her. She sighed in return, before continuing their earlier trek down the steps.

A few moments later, as they pair of detectives drove away from the station, Juliet’s phone chimed, and she extracted it from the pocket of her pantsuit. Sliding it up, she saw a message from Gus.

_Gus: lassiter said to ask if you’d like to join Shawn and me for breakfast tomorrow, iHOP, you in?_

_Jules: sure. Time?_

_Gus: 10:00_

_Jules: I’ll be there_

                                                                                                                     |o|

Sat across from Shawn and Gus in a grimy iHop booth, Juliet took a moment to reflect on just what her life had become, after transferring to Santa Barbara. She had come to work in an amazing department. She got paired with the Head Detective of said department, and met Chief Vick, not only her boss, but her friend. While Carlton may not be the most expressive or kind man, he was definitely one with a good heart. He had a mind for what was just and fair, and would never dream of- knowingly- wrongfully convicting anyone.

Juliet looked at the two best friends in front of her, arguing over a pancake. Laughing quietly, she reveled in the feeling of forming a close bond with someone. Despite their antics and pranks, these were two good men. Ones she would trust with her life. Ones that she knew would do anything for each other, or for her. Even for her partner.

But she also knew that there was something off about one of the men seated opposite herself.

While Gus was vehemently arguing with Shawn as to why he should get the last pancake, Shawn’s attention seemed to be diverted from his friend. His eyes skated across the restaurant, back and forth, back and forth, dancing from person to person. His lips moved slightly as if he was numbering them, and as his eyes swept from one side of the room, Juliet noticed a bead of sweat trail off his forehead and down his neck. Another soon followed.

 Juliet paused in her observations upon noticing that Gus too had turned around. He also did a sweep of the restaurant, before apparently deciding there was nothing worth double checking, and turned back around. He shot Shawn a quizzical look, before noticing the other man's eyes were still scanning the people around him. 

"Shawn? Do you see something? Someone?" He shot a quick glance to where Juliet was sitting. "Is a spirit trying to communicate?" Shawn looked at him with a dazed expression, eyes glassy.

"Air... gotta..." Shawn abruptly cut himself off, standing roughly from the booth, and shoving through swarms of people towards the door. A few people were on their way in as he passed them, and he brushed past them roughly. Gus and Juliet looked at each other for a few moments, before each slid some money on to the table, and made to follow after their friend. 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lassie realizes, Jules and Gus notice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! Had some pretty bad writers block. Chapter 3 should be in a few days, I hope you like it! Please let me know if you see any grammar or spelling errors, I don't have a beta.

 

Gus and Juliet bustled through the doorway of iHop, and saw Shawn standing on the front steps. Slightly hunched over, head in his hands. His breath came out in harsh gasps, seemingly tearing from his lungs through his lips. He was shaking, and from the distance he was, Gus could only guess it was from tears.

  
“Shawn!” Gus jogged up to his best friend, worry creasing his brow. Juliet did her best to keep up with the worried man, and they both reached Shawn within seconds of each other. Gus reached a hand to the other man’s shoulder, spinning him so they faced each other.

  
“What happened? Are you okay?” Gus’ voice was softer now that he was closer, and the emotion in his voice was obvious to anyone within earshot.  
  
“I’m fine, don’t worry.” He seemed to wrench himself from Gus’ grasp, looking half as if he instead wanted to push himself closer. As he pulled away, Juliet and Gus saw his face was red and tear-streaked. His hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat, as if he was recovering from a minor panic attack, and concerned danced across his friend’s face as he forced smile at them, that obviously displayed his discomfort and unhappiness, everything that a smile shouldn’t display.

  
Shawn let out a shaky laugh, “I’m ok. Just needed some air.” Every word past his lips is impossible to believe based completely on appearance, more so if you know the first thing about Spencers. They don't show ‘weakness’. Gus, knowing both of these stills, still held out a firm and steady hand for Shawn to grasp. After doing so, Gus pulled Shawn to his feet, and gave him a stern look, one Vick would be proud of.

  
“Don’t lie to me, Shawn.” Shawn had the balls to look miffed at this, standing unsteadily on his feet with the blood draining further from his features.

  
Gus had his mouth open in protest before Shawn had even completed his lie, but Shawn had pushed away Gus’ hand and started his trek backwards, towards the Blueberry.

  
“Let’s just go now, alright? I TIVO'd _Short Circuit 2_ at the Psych office, you wanna watch it?” Gus was never one to deny a classic like _Short Circuit,_ even the second one, so he lets Shawn’s little episode go for the time being.

  
Juliet watches with blank eyes as the two bicker all the way back to the car, thinking over what just happened. After a few moments, she shrugs off the ordeal and heads back to her own car. _It's probably just a one time thing_ , she thinks, and let's other matter crawl back into her thoughts, letting the events of a few minutes ago become buried in new thoughts.

  
~|0|~

They're about halfway through _Short Circuit 2_ when Gus notices that Shawn isn't paying attention. This might be normal if it was just anyone else. But Shawn is always aware of his surroundings, never lost in thought like he is now. And second off, Shawn loves Johnny Five. There's no way he'd let this movie pass by, unwatched, as he sits in his chair, deep in thought.

  
So Gus watches him, seeing as he first winces, rubbing at his sore shoulder, where the gunshot wound had just finished healing. Then, as he starts to shake in his seat, and his teeth begin to chatter softly. Beads of sweat start rolling down his forehead, and his hands are clasped so tightly in front of him the knuckles are white. And Gus’ concern grows.

  
Eventually Shawn goes still once again, and by then the movie is almost over. He sits still, his face gray sweaty. Gus sits silently, filing all this information away for later to bring up to Lassiter and Juliet. He decided that they _have_ to do something for their friend.

  
~|0|~

  
“There's something wrong with Shawn.” Lassiter looked up from the paperwork on his desk, and Gus was standing at the other side, the closest to genuine anger Lassiter had ever seen him be. His arms were crossed over his chest, and his gaze was almost a glare.

  
Juliet, a few feet behind Lassiter at her own desk, looked up at the mention of Shawn’s name. She stood up from behind the desk, pushing her chair in as she stepped towards Gus and Carlton.

  
“You've noticed too? I thought I was just imagining everything.” Gus nodded, and opened his mouth to reply. Before he could do so Lassiter interrupted.

  
“What do you mean, what's wrong with Spencer?” Much as he pretends to have no care for the man, Lassiter felt a trickle of dread in his gut at the concern Spencer’s two friends were displaying.

  
“Did something happen to him?” Juliet shook her head.

  
“Not just one thing per say, just a series of… odd and related occurrences.” Lassiter arched an eyebrow in her direction. Gus took the opportunity to cut in.

  
“If Shawn is anything, it's attentive. He pays attention to his surroundings and realizes what's happening around him.” Lassiter can't help but agree, he sees the way Shawn looks around him and notices the smallest of details, notices how it plays into his ‘psychic visions’. Juliet looks mildly surprised at this observation, but probably realizes that now isn't the time to bring this up.

  
“Recently,” Gus continues, unaware of the silent revelations happening to the detectives, “Shawn has been lacking the strict attention to detail he normally holds. He spaces out, forgets things he _always_ remembers. On top of that there's the… _episodes_ he's been having recently.” Lassiter’s curiosity peaks at this, and he wonders what on Earth kind of ‘episodes’ the kid could be having to have these two so worried.

  
“Episodes?” He asks, and that small trail of worry from his heart to his stomach is back. Gus nods.

  
“He gets sort of clammy, and gray. And the. He starts to shake and sweat, and yesterday I'm pretty sure Juliet and I caught him after one and he was crying.” He looks to Juliet and a curt nod gives him confirmation on this information. It almost sounds like a pa-

  
Gus’ phone rings. A loud, blaring, obnoxious ringtone that cuts off Lassiter’s train of thought, and he knows that it can only belong to one person. Gus, looking mildly embarrassed, answer the phone with a quiet _speak of the devil_. Slight exasperation obvious in his tone, Gus speaks into the phone.

  
“What do you want, Shawn?” Muffles speaking is obvious on the other line.

  
“I'm at the sTati on, why? Do you need me to pick you up from somewhere _again_?” More garbled words.

  
“If you're outside the station, why don't you just _come_ _in_?” Confusion clouds Gus’ face.

  
“Shawn, I'm not coming outside just because you don't _feel like_ coming in.” A large, loud groan can be heard coming from the speakers on the phone before Gus replies, with finality in his tone, “See you in a few minutes, _in the station_ , Shawn.” Gus closes his phone with a _snap_ , and turns back to his present company of detectives.

  
“Shawn’s outside, he's coming in.” Lassiter suppresses a groan, and instead goes for an eye roll.

  
“I have _ears_ , Guster. I’m not head detective because I have my head up my ass half the time.” Gus looks a tiny bit sheepish, but smiles without much remorse.

  
“Of course.” As he's saying this, Shawn comes waltzing through the precinct towards Lassiter’s desk, smiling. His eyes are skirting across the cops in the room, but after seeing only a few seated at their desk, his tense form loosens some.

  
He comes to where Juliet and Gus are standing in front of Lassiter’s desk, and settles himself on the edge of Lassiter's desk.

  
“Lassie! Jules! If Gus would have told me we were having a get together I would've brought a pineapple.” Lassiter raises a hand and puts it on Shawn's shoulder, shoving him off his desk. At the touch to his shoulder, Shawn flinches violently off the desk and away from Lassiter's hand, barely managing to stabilize once he's on his feet. Lassiter gives him a bewildered look, and Shawn laughs breathily.

  
“Must've been working out Lassie! That was some push!” No one laughs, and Juliet and Gus look at him with something akin to concern. Shawn looks unsteady standing, and Lassiter stands up, a bit too forcefully, seeing as his chair slides quickly across the slick floor of the precinct.

  
“O’Hara, we need to go down to the questioning rooms, we have a witness down there from the safe robbery case that we need to question.” Gus perks up at the mention of the case, and leans over towards his best friend.

  
“Dude, we have to get in on that.” Shawn looks slightly frightened at the prospect of a case.

  
“We haven't had a new case in like two weeks. We _need_ this.” Gus is practically begging at this point, hoping that the excitement of a case will bring Shawn back from this slump he seems to have been stuck in. Shawn shakes his head, almost vehemently.

  
“I don't want- we don't need a new one. I can take some money of my emergency account or something if I have to. We don't need this one.” Gus looks at him like he's crazy, and at this point, so are Lassiter and Juliet. Shawn never turns down the opportunity for a case. Their job is an inconsistent form of income at best, and it's so very unlikely for Shawn to turn down an opportunity that the police are practically _handing to him_ , for no apparent reason.

  
“Shawn. We're taking this case.” Gus’ tone brokers no argument, even from Shawn, and he nods stiffly, indicating for Lassiter to lead the way for the other two down to the questioning room.

  
Gus looks over to his friend in concern as he sees him wiping off sweat as they head down the stairs to the room where the witness is being held. He leans over, part way concerned, part confused.

  
“Dude, there's, like, 15 stairs here. Why are you sweating so much? You really need to lay off the Cocoa Pebbles.” Gus says it jokingly, trying to grab Shawn’s attention from whatever place it seems to be floating off to. Shawn spares him the barest bit of a glance, nodding absentmindedly.

  
“Yeah, yeah…” his voice is quiet, something that should be impossible for Shawn Freaking Spencer.

  
That's when Gus knows this is serious.

  
At the bottom of the stairs, the small group of private-and-normal-detectives stop as Lassie takes the chance to yell at McNab. Gus takes this chance to grab Shawn by the arm, ignore the minuscule flinch, and drag him to the corner.

  
“Dude. What's wrong? What aren't you telling me?” Shawn avoids his eyes, instead letting them slide from officer to officer in the pen, muttering under his breath what sounded like numbers. It took Gus a moment to realize he was counting the officers present, seeing how many there were.

  
“Shawn.” Gus snapped his finger an inch or two from his face, and Shawn's eyes focused onto Gus’ face before asking irritably.

  
“ _What_?” Gus, surprised for a moment, took a second to reply.

  
“Do you need some air? You're looking gray and clammy, and your legs look like they're about to give up on you. We can go sit in the Blueberry for a minute if you need to?” Shawn shakes his head vigorously, adamantly denying Gus’ request.

  
“No. No blueberry.”

  
“Okay, but if you pass out I am not carrying your ass out to the car.” Even a jab like that reviewed no answer. Gus could hardly believe he wasn't dreaming. Lassiter turned to the pair.

  
“You two, get over here! We don't pay you stand in the corner and gossip.” Gus hurried over to where Jules and Lassie were standing, Shawn trailing behind a bit more slowly.

  
“Witness is in the second interrogation room. Spencer, you and Guster head in there first and see if you can get any sort of ‘reading’ off of him. We’ll close the door so you can have some peace and quiet with _the spirits_.” The last part of his sentence had so much sarcasm that Gus was surprised it wasn't dripping from his mouth.

  
Upon hearing that Shawn would be closed within the room, Shawn gulped heavily.

  
“Yeah! Sure. Why not. Close me in a small room. What a great idea.” All three of Shawn’s friends looked up, surprised, at sharp tone of voice Shawn laced his words with. He didn't notice, too busy wiping his sweaty palms aggressively onto the seat of his pants, before sliding them into the front pockets so he could clench them discreetly, and hide some of the anxiety bubbling up within him. After a few moments of the group standing there, waiting silently for Shawn to start the trek towards the questioning room, Lassiter spoke.

  
“Spencer. This year, please.” Shawn’s head jerked up, looking at Lassiter and nodding his head jerkily. He made a go on motion with one of his hands after extracting it from his pocket.

  
“Yeah. Lead the way.” A watery smile accompanied his words. The dread grew stronger in Lassiter’s gut.

  
When the four of them had reached the door, Shawn’s hand hesitated over the handle a second too long for it to be casual. But after cracking open the door, Shawn stepped inside, with Gus just a step or two behind him. The latter turned around and shut the door after they were inside, and Juliet caught of glimpse of a panicked expression on the former’s, before the door shut with a click!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How'd you like it? I'm really proud of Lassie, almost realizing what's going on with Shawn lmao. The nitty gritty angsty bits will be next chapter.


	3. breathe in,out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lassie and Jules and Gus help Shawn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god I feel like this chapter sucks. Please tell me if you notice any grammar or spelling mistakes if there's any plot holes or things that didn't make sense please let me know!

Lassiter and Juliet were only outside the questioning room for about a minute, before the door slammed open and Shawn tumbled out. He was breathing heavily and walked shakily. The pair of detectives looked at him for a minute with shocked expressions on their faces, before they stepped forward to help Shawn up from the ground, where he had fallen.

  
Gripping his shoulders,Juliet & Lassiter practically carried Shawn into the neighboring interrogation room. Coming closer to the doorway, and seeing the place they were headed, Shawn began to squirm within their grips.

  
Once they reached the door, a pair of hands stuck out and _shoved_ , as Shawn pushed himself away from the door. A stricken expression adorning his features, Gus stepped towards his best friend.

  
“What's wrong, Shawn?”

  
Sweat pours from his brow, leaving a trail down the side of his face. Carving a track into the makeup under his eyes that everyone seems to just now notice, revealing dark circles, surely darker than could be healthy.

  
“There's some, um, bad spirits in there. Don't wanna mingle with them.” The lie is tangible, thick in the air between all of them. Lassiter sees Shawn crushing has palms together, fingers red from their grip on each other, trying to suppress the tremors that reside there. It's not working.

  
“Shawn…” Juliet takes a step toward him, hand outstretched as if to touch him, but his arms flinch back violently when she's mere inches away. She too jerks her hand back, surprised at his actions. And he stares down at his palms, expression stricken.

  
“I-” the word is strangled, and he stops. “Sorry.” He turns, and practically runs from up the stairs and away from the three of them. They can all see the heaving of his chest as he turns, hear the heavy pants of his breaths as he races up the steps. They're all silent, in shock at the actions of their friend. That _Shawn_ could act like he just did.

  
“That,” Gus pauses for a moment, collecting his thoughts, and turns to the two detectives, “was very, very weird.” The detectives nod, still speechless. It's a few moments before Juliet finds her words.

  
“We need to find him. He's obviously not in a right enough mind to be on his own right now.” Carlton nods in agreement, face stony.

  
“Let's check his apartment first. If he's not there, we'll head over to the Psych office.” Gus pulls his phone from his pocket, flipping it open. “I’ll ride with you two so I can call Shawn, see if he'll pick up. However unlikely _that_ may be.” Lassiter can't find it within himself to argue, worry for Spencer crowding over the usual anger he would feel at people inviting themselves into his car.

  
Normally, Spencer acting like a complete idiot was a part of everyday life, and something that only annoyed Lassiter. Never worrying him. But seeing that panicked expression take over the usually-cocky man’s features, he worried. It was disconcerting.

  
                        ~|0|~

“Dammit!” Gus snaps his phone shut with a sharp _clap_. He sighs heavily, before pointing to a large apartment complex to their left.

  
“He lives there.” Lassiter nods stiffly, turning into the parking lot and driving the car into a parking space. The three of them clambered from the car quickly, and Gus led the way towards the first set of stairs.

  
“Third floor.” He tossed over his shoulder. They climbed the stair sets, and reached the third floor, where Gus took a sharp left turn. As he walked down to the fifth door, he reached into his pocket and fished out his keys, flipping through the few on the ring until he found the one that he knew belonged to Shawn's apartment.

  
Juliet & Lassiter shared a quiet look of sort-of confusion before following Gus past the now open apartment door. Lassiter was mildly surprised that the entire apartment wasn't a disaster, full of snack bags and dirty clothes.

  
It was quite the opposite, actually. The apartment was clean, not immaculately so, but clean. There were a few odds and ends about, but everything was sanitized. The place was sort of cold, as if Shawn stopped off here as little as possible.

  
“He doesn't come here often, so I doubt he's here.” Gus said, breaking the silence of the room, and confirming Lassiter's suspicions.

  
“He doesn't like the place very much, mostly just keeps his stuff here as sort of a storage unit. He comes and changed everyday and sleeps a few hours before leaving. Hopefully we’ll have better luck at the Psych office.” Gus paused, and pursed his lips.

  
“I think I know what's wrong with him. The fact that he wasn't here is the last clue I needed to realize what's going on.” He put his hands to his face, scrubbing harshly at the skin. “I should've realized a while ago what this was.” Juliet, hesitant, was the first to speak.

  
“What did you realize?” Gus sighed heavily. He looked as if he had aged 15 years in just a few moments.

  
“You guys had better sit down, it's a little bit of a long story.” Both detectives immediately sat on the couch, looking at Gus expectantly. He sighed again.

  
“Shawn used to get panic attacks a lot when he was younger. He couldn't breathe, and he would cry. But being Shawn, he would pretend that nothing was wrong. He would just sit there and kind of breathe heavily, and ignore everyone's concerns. He would sometimes sit there like that until he passed out.” Juliet & Lassiter looked on, confused with what this had to do with anything. Yes, some of the symptoms had things in common, but they would have noticed by now if Shawn had just up and had a panic attack on them.

  
“He got some anxiety medicine when he was around 13, and he's been on it ever since. Except,” he hesitated, worried Shawn would be angry at him for telling too much. After a moment of thought, he forged on ahead.

  
“Except recently. He's been off it for about a month now, his doctors refuse to prescribe him more, they said his anxiety is ‘gone’. I'm pretty sure he has a couple emergency pills in the office. I think his anxiety may have been set off again after that recent case we took on. I also think that maybe it heightened some existing anxiety he has with small spaces, after being locked in a trunk for a few hours.” Gus paused, letting them soak in the information. Juliet nodded, standing.

  
“Then I'd be willing to bet he's there.” Lassiter couldn't help but agree, standing with his partner.

  
“Well then, let's go.” Lassiter said, scooping his keys from his pocket and leading the way to the door.

  
                         ~|0|~

Gus opened the door to the Psych office, stepping in and seeing all the lights off, he almost lost hope.

  
“Shawn?” He called out, voice tired. He heard a few scrapes, and a thump, before Shawn's bedraggled head peeked out around the second doorway. He looked at Gus for a moment, relief filling his features, before his eyes lit upon the two detectives behind him. His expression became more glossed over, and very obviously much faker.

  
“Hey guys! Really, you gotta stop springing surprise parties on me.” He smiled thinly, trying to reassure his two friends behind Gus.

  
“Spencer, what's going on?” Lassiter spoke, startling Juliet and Gus. Shawn looked mildly surprised at his forwardness. A resigned expression came over his face.

  
“Look. I just needed some space. Okay? Nothing personal Lassie, but I can't be around your charming personality _all_ the time.” Shawn paused for a moment, debating the believability of that lie. Apparently deeming it good enough, he continued talking.

  
“Gus, the uh. Stuff. It's not anywhere.” His hands were starting to shake again, and he crossed his arms, pressing his palms hard against his chest.

  
“Your emergency medicine is in your desk drawer like I've told you a _thousand times_ Shawn.” Gus regretted the spiteful tone immediately, due to the look of hurt blossoming on Shawn's features. He turned quickly, rifling through the drawer in his desk before extracting a bottle triumphantly. The look was immediately replaced with one of open panic.

  
“Gus that's _expired_. I need it now Gus,” he leaned heavily on the doorway for a moment, before whispering, “I can't feel my arms or legs.” Gus’ expression widened into his own panic.

  
“Shit!” He murmured, and Juliet was surprised at his language.

  
“It's okay, we can work this out Shawn. You've survived without medicine before. We can do it again.” Gus crossed the threshold into the main part of the office quickly, softly grabbing Shawn by the arm to pull him along with him. Juliet and Lassiter followed shortly after, confused, but followed nonetheless.

  
Gus pulled Shawn toward the couch, pushing him slightly to sit on it, before pivoting and sitting on the side opposite from Shawn. Juliet & Lassiter pulled the chairs, from Shawn and Gus’ desks, in front of the couch to sit down themselves.

  
“Oh great,” Shawn paused to heave a great breath. “Now we're all gonna sing kumbaya into the sunset.” Gus turned, and gave him a flat look. Shawn waved a shaking hand in his face, dismissing the look he was receiving.

  
At this point, everyone could see the facade Shawn so carefully held was cracking. His panic was showing through, and he could no longer fool anyone with the cool guy act.

  
“What's making you panic?” A sharp intake of breath was heard from Shawn, and he looked at Gus from the corner of his eyes. He took a deep, shuddering breath.

  
“Everytime I close my eyes I feel like I'm trapped in that trunk again. Every time I lay down I feel like there's hands on me again, putting duct tape over my mouth and locking me in that tru-” his voice broke, and he buried his face in his hands. A small, muffled son could be heard.

  
Gus hesitantly placed his hand on Shawn's shoulders, and Shawn flinched heavily but didn't pull away, so Gus rubbed soothing circles on his back.

  
“It's okay Shawn, they can't get you anymore. They're behind bars.”

  
“It's not okay!” Shawn burst out. “It's not okay, it's never okay! Im perpetually waiting to blow, waiting for my anxiety to get the best of me. What kind of messed up person can't even handle feeling _anxious_? Gus, I can't sleep. I stay awake and awake and awake until I can't anymore and,” he paused, sucking in a huge, dry breath that made him cough. But he continued in a minute.

  
“Gus, I can't not sleep forever. I need my pills. Gus, I need my pills _please_ I need my pills…” Juliet  & Lassiter looked on, unsure how to help in a situation like this.

  
Gus took control of the situation once more, grasping Shawn by the shoulders and turning him so they faced each other on the couch.

  
“Breathe with me. 1-2-3 in, 4-5 out. In, out.” Gus counted, and Shawn breathed. In, out. As Gus directed. In a few moments, Shawn was calmer. He stared sheepishly at the two detectives.

  
“Sorry you had to see that.” Juliet shook her head fiercely.

  
“I'm sorry we couldn't help, Shawn. I've just never been faced with this situation before.” Shawn nodded, and opened his mouth to reply, before Lassiter interrupted him.

  
“Who the _hell_ is your doctor?” Shawn looked up, confused.

  
“Dr. Connors. Why?” Lassiter practically growled.

  
“Tomorrow, we will be taking a little _visit_ to Dr. Conners, to teach him a little about anxiety. Anxiety can be _quelled_ , but not just _cured_. And if that damned doctor won't give you your prescription I will go down there with a drug raiding team, and get them for you myself.” After the final words of his outburst, Lassiter looked fairly surprised at himself, that those words came from his mouth.

  
Shawn, Juliet, and Gus, on the other hand, were looking up at Lassiter in awe.

  
“Hell yeah Lassie! I knew you cared about me deep, deep, deep down!” Shawn stood up, slinging an arm around Lassiter's shoulders. Carlton couldn't find it within himself to tell Spencer off, finally glad that he was back to his usual self. 

 

 

END.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH CRAP did ya like it? I really wanted some Lassie protectiveness :p you can subscribe if you'd like more psych stuff! I've got a few fics in the works but they're coming :)


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